"Do you mean--"
"The 'bye Jarge,'" I nodded.
"Oh, Dick!"
"Yes, Lisbeth; it was a ridiculous piece of sentiment I admit. Your
law abiding, level-headed citizen would doubtless be highly shocked,
not to say scandalised; likewise the Law might get up on its hind legs
and kick--quite unpleasantly; but all the same, I did it."
"You were never what one might call--very 'level-headed,' were you,
Dick?"
"No, I'm afraid not."
"And, do you know, I think that is the very reason why I--good
gracious!--what is that?" She pointed toward the shadow of the hedge.
"Merely the Imp," I answered; "but never mind that--tell me what you
were going to say--'the very reason why you'--what?"
"Reginald!" said Lisbeth, unheeding my question, "come here, sir!" Very
sheepishly the Imp crept forth from the ditch, and coming up beside me,
stole his hand into mine, and I put it in my pocket.
"Reginald?" she repeated, looking from one to the other of us with that
expression which always renews within me the memory of my boyish
misdeeds, "why are you not asleep in bed?"
"'Cause I had to go an' feed my outlaw, Auntie Lisbeth."
"And," I put in to create a diversion, "incidentally I've discovered
the secret of his 'enormous appetite.' It is explained in three words,
to wit, 'the bye Jarge."
"Do you mean to say--" began Lisbeth.
"Fed him regularly twice a day," I went on, "and nearly famished
himself in the doing of it--you remember the dry-bread incident?"
"Imp!" cried Lisbeth; "Imp!" And she had him next moment in her arms.
"But Uncle Dick gave him a whole sovereign, you know," he began; "an'--"
"I sent him to a certain house, Lisbeth," I said, as her eyes met mine;
"an old house that stands not far from the village of Down, in Kent, to
prune the roses and things. I should like it to be looking its best
when we get there; and--"
"An' my outlaw kissed Uncle Dick's hand," pursued the Imp. "Don't you
think he must love him an awful lot?"
"I gave him a month to do it in," I went on; "but a month seems much
too long when one comes to consider--what do you think, Lisbeth?"
"I think that I hear the wheels of the dog-cart!" she cried. Sure
enough, a moment later Peter hove in view, and great was his
astonishment at sight of "Master Reginald."
"Peter," I said, "Miss Elizabeth has changed her mind, and will walk
back with us; and--er--by the way, I understand that Master Reginald
purchased a coat, a shirt, and a pair of trousers of you, for which he
has already paid a deposit of sixpence. Now, if you will let me know
their value--"
"That's hall right, Mr. Brent, sir. Betwixt you and me, sir, they
wasn't up to much, nohow, the coat being tightish, sir--tightish--and
the trousis uncommon short in the leg for a man o' my hinches, sir."
"Nevertheless," said I, "a coat's a coat, and a pair of trousers are
indubitably a pair of trousers, and nothing can alter the fact; so if
you will send me in a bill some time I shall be glad."
"Very good, Mr. Brent, sir." Saying which Peter touched his hat and
turning, drove away.
"Now," I said as I rejoined Lisbeth and the Imp, "I shall be glad if
you will tell me how long it should take for my garden to look fair
enough to welcome you?"
"Oh, well, it depends upon the gardener, and the weather, and--and
heaps of things," she answered, flashing her dimple at me.
"On the contrary," I retorted, shaking my head, "it depends altogether
upon the whim of the most beautiful, tempting--"
"Supposing," sighed Lisbeth, "supposing we talk of fish!"
"You haven't been fishing lately, Uncle Dick," put in the Imp.
"I've had no cause to," I answered; "you see, I am guilty of such
things only when life assumes a grey monotony of hue and everything is
a flat, dreary desolation. Do you understand, Imp?"
"Not 'zackly--but it sounds fine! Auntie Lisbeth," he said suddenly,
as we paused at the Shrubbery gate, "don't you think my outlaw must be
very, very fond of Uncle Dick to kiss his hand?"
"Why, of course he must," nodded Lisbeth.
"If," he went on thoughtfully, "if you loved somebody--very much--would
you kiss their hand, Auntie Lisbeth?"
"I don't know--of course not!"
"But why not--s'posing their hand was nice an' clean?"
"Oh, well--really I don't know. Imp, run along to bed; do."
"You know now that I wasn't such a pig as to eat all that food, don't
you?" Lisbeth kissed him.
"Now be off to bed with you."
"You'll come an' tuck me up, an' kiss me good-night, won't you?"
"To be sure I will," nodded Lisbeth.
"Why, then, I'll go," said the Imp; and with a wave of the hand to me
he went.
"Dick," said Lisbeth, staring up at the moon, "it was very unwise of
you, to say the least of it, to set a desperate criminal at large."
"I'm afraid it was, Lisbeth; but then I saw there was good in the
fellow, you know, and--er--"
"Dick," she said again, and then laughed suddenly, with the dimple in
full evidence; "you foolish old Dick--you know you would have done it
anyway for the sake of that dying old soldier."
"Poor old Jasper!" I said; "I'm really afraid I should." Then a
wonderful thing happened; for as I reached out my hand to her, she
caught it suddenly in hers, and before I knew had pressed her lips upon
it--and so was gone.